New here, and going to be filing soon

[lady elaine]

Here is my story:

We moved to Iowa 3 years ago, purchased a home for 300,000. When we moved here, we did not realize that my husbands bonus checks were basically going to end up being non existent and like fools we relied on these heavily.

So here we are now, approx 77k in unsecured (cc debt), ~278 oweing on our 1st (a 5yr arm changing in 2 years), ~72 oweing on our 2nd, 1 vehicle with exactly 7k equity (I believe that is accurate, we traded in and got 7k for our other and no payments have been made so far), 13k oweing on that one vehicle which is not a fancy car by any means, just reliable, new, good in the snow and hauls our wood to heat our home and gets my husband to work (our only income which is 97k/annually).

We have a lawsuit against us for about 35k. We probably will not win it. Whether or not it will be deemed fraud, we have no idea, but in all honesty we are not guilty of fraud but they are trying for all they can with it. So ridiculous.

We have a daughter with Type 1 diabetes and her insulin pump supplies are quite expensive (we spend anywhere from 125-300 a month on her stuff alone), and I have MS. The current copays on my meds are 25.00/month, but my insurance just sent me a letter saying that as of 1-1-09, they will likely no longer cover it and the cost of that is 2k a month for me to pay for it out of pocket.

So my main concerns here are...we desperately need to keep our home and vehicle. Moving is really not an option with our credit, my husbands job and with what we would likely get for this house (I am guessing 340 tops and homes literally take a year to sell here) and we have pets...apt's generally will not take 3 dogs and 2 kitties. Please don't recc. I get rid of them either as it just is not an option they are family to us.

As of right now, if we pay just our utilities, the 1st and 2nd mortgages, food, gas and the car we have approximately 232 left each month.
My husband gets a bonus in September which will be not too bad..maybe 11k after taxes.

Here are my questions, and any advice/answers are greatly appreciated!

How is $232 going to be enough to pay towards a chpt 13?

Could we qualify for a 7 somehow and if so can we keep our home and vehicle?

Anyone ever roll a lawsuit into their bankruptcy? Several attorneys I have spoken to have said it can be done, but how on earth does that work? I am guessing these people will contest it.

How hard was it to get credit after filing, meaning for a home? My husbands job wants to move him in about 2-3 years and promote him. We do not want to mess this up by not being able to get into a home at that time.

Thanks again for your advice everyone. An aquaintence from another board reccomended this site to me and I am so glad to have this resource.

[keepmine]

You have far more edxpenses than what you listed. I'm sure you don't realize it because, you have used cc's to subsidize your lifestyle. Once you fill out the Income and Expense schedules, you will likely be negative.

The lawsuit will be included on the schedules as a contingent/unliqidated liability. They don't need a dollar amount or actual judgment to have it discharged in bk.
Many bk lawyers give free or low cost initial consultations. Speak with a few and see what they say.
IMO. yoi don't have a routine case here with, a large check coming next month and the ongoing medical expenses. I'd see if it's possible to put that bonus check in an exempt asset where it can be used later for medical bills. I don't know if medical saving accounts for example are exempt but that would be one question I'd ask.

[lady elaine]

Good point, I was just thinking about additional expenses..clothes for kids, unexpected school fees, doc visits, vet bills and whatever else can come out (and you don't expect it to of course!).

One quick question regarding "The lawsuit will be included on the schedules as a contingent/unliqidated liability. They don't need a dollar amount or actual judgment to have it discharged in bk."
What do you mean by contingent/unliqidated liability? I am guessing that means we could still have to pay the 35K or whatever it comes out to be. Apologies, I am so new to this and so overwhelmed with it all right now.

Many thanks for you thoughts....

[AngelinaCat]

Hi Lady elaine: welcome to the Forum. For any line item that you don't have a figure for, put in $1.00. It is understood that you don't know the amount now, and will have to fill it in later. That is what we did when listing our medical creditors, as the insurance claims were still pending when we filed.

Good luck to you, and try to relax a little. It will get better.

[js1980]

One quick question regarding "The lawsuit will be included on the schedules as a contingent/unliqidated liability. They don't need a dollar amount or actual judgment to have it discharged in bk."
What do you mean by contingent/unliqidated liability? I am guessing that means we could still have to pay the 35K or whatever it comes out to be. Apologies, I am so new to this and so overwhelmed with it all right now.

Many thanks for you thoughts....

Nope, it would be discharged in the bankruptcy just like all of your other debt. Discharged means you don't have to pay.

Don't worry about being new! Everyone here was new at some point!

[soleprop]

welcome lady - this is a good crowd!

[keepmine]

Good point, I was just thinking about additional expenses..clothes for kids, unexpected school fees, doc visits, vet bills and whatever else can come out (and you don't expect it to of course!).

One quick question regarding "The lawsuit will be included on the schedules as a contingent/unliqidated liability. They don't need a dollar amount or actual judgment to have it discharged in bk."
What do you mean by contingent/unliqidated liability? I am guessing that means we could still have to pay the 35K or whatever it comes out to be. Apologies, I am so new to this and so overwhelmed with it all right now.

Many thanks for you thoughts....

I just meant, you can include the pending lawsuit in the bk. You don't need to wait on a judgment-it'll be discharged.

[lady elaine]

I just posted this under the chpt 13 section as well...

When I run some numbers on the Best Case Bankruptcy download, it shows that I am likely not eligible for a 7 (aka it gives me a sad face), but the payment for the 13 is not even possible (800? how does it think I have that each month??).
Now my numbers may not be dead on perfect, as I half of this software I do not understand at all, but even when I run the numbers for utilities, 1st, 2nd mortgage, food, and gas, I now come up with something like 87$ left for a payment each month towards a 13. Yep, I thought we had a bit more then that earlier, but redoing a few numbers gave me that figure and I am sure I could very well still be off.



How on earth would that work?

Basically if we did not have our 2nd, I could have the 800 it says I would need for a payment, but the 2nd will not go away, will it?